The Afrobarometer project was designed to assess attitudes
toward democracy, markets, and civil society in several sub-Saharan
African nations, and to track the evolution of such attitudes in those
nations over time. This particular survey was concerned with the
attitudes and opinions of the citizens of South Africa. Respondents
gave their opinions of the performance of South Africa's President
Thabo Mbeki and elected officials in local and national government, the
government's handling of issues such as crime and the economy, the
most important issues facing the nation, and whether the country was
heading in the right direction. A series of questions addressed
respondents' living conditions, the economic conditions and political
influence of their own ethnic group compared to other groups in the
country, and whether they felt more attached to their national
identity or their ethnic group. Views were sought on the past,
present, and future of economic conditions in the country, economic
policies and reform, political parties, income inequality, civil
rights, equal rights for women, and whether laws were enforced
equally. Respondents rated their level of trust in the government,
military, courts, the media, and others, the level of corruption
existing in these groups, the ease of obtaining assistance with
securing documents and government services, the methods by which
respondents did so, and how often in the past year respondents had
paid a bribe to a government official. Other questions asked about
respondents' interest in public affairs, their level of civic
engagement, and their satisfaction with the way democracy and
elections worked in South Africa. Respondents were quizzed on their
knowledge of government officials, presidential term limits, and
government policy, and gave their interpretation of the concept of
democracy. Additional questions asked about media sources of
information, respondents' ownership of consumer goods such as books
and automobiles, their physical and mental health status, and whether
any close friends or relatives had died of AIDS. Information was also
collected on the presence of institutions, public utilities, and
soliders in the area. Demographic variables include sex, age, race,
ethnicity, education level, language, employment status, occupation,
voter registration status and participation history, political party
affiliation, religious preference, religious participation, and type
of residential area (e.g., urban, rural, etc.).

The Afrobarometer project was designed to assess attitudes
toward democracy, markets, and civil society in several sub-Saharan
African nations, and to track the evolution of such attitudes in those
nations over time. This particular survey was concerned with the
attitudes and opinions of the citizens of South Africa. Respondents
gave their opinions of the performance of South Africa's President
Thabo Mbeki and elected officials in local and national government, the
government's handling of issues such as crime and the economy, the
most important issues facing the nation, and whether the country was
heading in the right direction. A series of questions addressed
respondents' living conditions, the economic conditions and political
influence of their own ethnic group compared to other groups in the
country, and whether they felt more attached to their national
identity or their ethnic group. Views were sought on the past,
present, and future of economic conditions in the country, economic
policies and reform, political parties, income inequality, civil
rights, equal rights for women, and whether laws were enforced
equally. Respondents rated their level of trust in the government,
military, courts, the media, and others, the level of corruption
existing in these groups, the ease of obtaining assistance with
securing documents and government services, the methods by which
respondents did so, and how often in the past year respondents had
paid a bribe to a government official. Other questions asked about
respondents' interest in public affairs, their level of civic
engagement, and their satisfaction with the way democracy and
elections worked in South Africa. Respondents were quizzed on their
knowledge of government officials, presidential term limits, and
government policy, and gave their interpretation of the concept of
democracy. Additional questions asked about media sources of
information, respondents' ownership of consumer goods such as books
and automobiles, their physical and mental health status, and whether
any close friends or relatives had died of AIDS. Information was also
collected on the presence of institutions, public utilities, and
soliders in the area. Demographic variables include sex, age, race,
ethnicity, education level, language, employment status, occupation,
voter registration status and participation history, political party
affiliation, religious preference, religious participation, and type
of residential area (e.g., urban, rural, etc.).

(1) The data available for download are not weighted,
and users will need to weight the data prior to analysis. (2) The
CASEID variable was created for use with online analysis. (3) The
DISTRICT variable was converted from character to numeric and recoded
to protect respondent confidentiality. (4) The meaning of the
unlabeled numeric codes in the verbatim responses in variables Q35A,
Q35B, Q35C, Q43A1, Q43B1, Q43C1, Q44AVERB, Q44BVERB, and Q44CVERB are
unknown. (5) More information about Afrobarometer research projects
can be found via the
Afrobarometer Web site.

Methodology

Sample:
A new sample is drawn for each round of Afrobarometer
surveys, regardless of whether or not a previous survey was conducted
in the country. Wherever possible, and always in the first stage of
sampling, random sampling was conducted with probability proportionate
to population size (PPPS). The purpose was to guarantee that larger
(i.e., more populated) geographical units have a proportionally
greater probability of being chosen into the sample. The sample was
drawn by taking the smallest geographic units, Census Enumeration
Areas (EAs), and stratifying all EAs across the country into separate
lists according to province, race, and urban/rural status. Six hundred
EAs were then randomly selected from these lists with the probability
proportionate to its size in the overall population as represented in
the 2001 Census. Four interviews were then randomly conducted within
each EA, and a respondent aged 18 years of age or older was randomly
selected from each household. A gender quota ensured that every other
interview was with a female.

Weight:
The data contain a weight variable (WITHINWT) that should be
used in analyzing the data. The weight variable adjusts the
distribution of the sample to account for oversamples or undersamples
with respect to province and race. Please refer to the codebook for
more information on weighting.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

(author unknown)
.
AIDS and Public Opinion in South Africa.
Afrobarometer Briefing Paper No. 14.
Cape Town, South Africa:
Institute for Democracy in South Africa, Ghana Centre for Democratic Development, and Michigan State University.